Re: Re: Copy protection and Smashwords

From my perspective, you're missing a couple of things:

1. Companies do go out of business, or they discontinue their
software/hardware. I think anyone who has been reading e-books for awhile
has books that are no longer readable because of that. I do, and it is
aggravating. DRM feels like I am handing over my money for a product that
can vanish at any time, through no fault of my own. Why do that if I don't
have to?

2. "I'm more concerned about the reader who is sincerely excited about the
book and attaches it to an email to her 5 closest friends - who then do the
same."  I have never been that excited about a book. Why would I distribute
illegal copies of books I spent good money for, knowing that I was
depriving the author by doing so? I want my favorite authors to be able to
write more books. Plus there's so much free stuff online already, including
free excerpts of many books. When I send a recommendation to someone, it's
a link to the page where you can download the excerpt & buy the book. DRM
shows that you assume I'm a thief (or even worse, you assume that YOUR book
is so good I won't be able to resist being a thief). Maybe I wouldn't care
if the DRM were removed on purchase, like those magnetic sensors are
removed from things I might buy at the store . . . but see #1.

3. More and more, I buy from authors & publishers who sell non-crippled
books. Sure I'll buy nook books on occasion because it's easy, but not as
often as I might otherwise. DRM means that you're risking a sale, because
there's always another book to read that doesn't have it.

I do wish you continued success for your books. It makes sense that you
would feel concerned about them, and perhaps I'd view things differently if
I were the author and you the reader. But since you asked . . .  :)

Beth


On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 10:13 AM, merwie <merwiemba-/[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi, I just posted a similar response on another list, so sorry to those of
> you reading this twice!
>
>
> I've heard several people advise against
> DRM because it 'annoys users', and I have to confess I'm unclear on the
> reasons.  I understand
> that it won't stop hackers, but I'm not really worried about that small
> group.  I'm more concerned about the reader who is sincerely excited
> about the book and attaches it to an email to her 5 closest friends -
> who then do the same.  Part of the argument I've heard is that copy
> protection is annoying to the average consumer, but I don't see why...
> when I download a Kindle book to my laptop I just open it and read it.
> There's nothing the least bit confusing or annoying about it, and from
> what I
> understand the Nook and Kobo versions are similar.  Am I missing
> something?
>
> I've been incredibly fortunate that my first book sells quite steadily,
> but I'm a single parent supporting 2 kids on my own, and every single book
> sale makes a real difference to us, so maybe I'm being a bit paranoid about
> protecting those sales :)
>
> For those who are interesting, I spoke to BookTango and one can elect to
> just distribute to resellers (B&N, Amazon etc.) and not sell on the
> BookTango site, which ensures copy protection.
>
>
> m. garzon
> Author, Blaze of Glory
>
> A USA TODAY recommended read & soon to be a major new TV series.
>
> Finalist, Global eBook Awards
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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